


Its Proper Place

by RaggedRose



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-13
Updated: 2006-03-13
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:26:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8088913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaggedRose/pseuds/RaggedRose
Summary: Reed has a late-night talk with himself. (03/13/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Just a quickieâ€”I wanted to see if I could write something that didn't turn into an epic. And wanted to actually finish something.  


* * *

Oh yes...Right there...

His fingers dug into the slim hips beneath him as he buried himself to the hilt again. He felt the tight passage flutter around him, pushing him over the edge...

Reed started violently as he woke. A warm wetness was spreading across his thighs, running down them to soak into the bedding beneath. He made a sound of disgust as he grabbed the folded towel next to his head and cleaned up the worst of the mess.

He dropped the soiled towel on the deck and lay back in his bunk, staring at the ceiling. He'd been waking like this far too often of late, the fact that he'd begun to keep a towel handy at night was proof of that. Of all people, why did it have to be Hayes invading his dreams? The man had invaded every other aspect of his life, it seemed. Why not his sleep as well?

Or was it just because there was no one else?

It wasn't pleasant to realize just how much power his body's drives had over him. It had never been this way before. As Reed lay there his thoughts spun around him, standing between him and sleep.

Until this mission, sex had never been an issue for him. It was easily available, and something he had regularly, but not a major part of his life. The people he had it with didn't loom large in it either, but he'd thought that that only meant that it was in its proper place. His job was far more important after all. Wasn't it?

He forced himself to go over the last few years. Since he'd taken this assignment he had slept with one senior officer and nursed a serious obsession for two others. It wasn't a record to be proud of, now was it? Now, since neither were available in any way, his mind had turned to someone else.

As his mind brushed over Trip the pain and betrayal returned full force. It had been bad enough when Trip had broken it off, but Reed could understand. In the aftermath of the attack on Earth, and the death of his sister, Trip had said that there just wasn't room in his heart for anyone else. It had hurt, far more than the loss of any of the other relationships he'd had. He'd allowed Trip to get close to him in a way no one else ever had. It had been as he'd always feared it would be. Empty promises, words of love that were spoken in the heat of the moment, and then he was gone. Perhaps Reed felt such things more keenly than others did. Surely he felt it more than Trip had. He'd gone first to T'Pol, and then on to one of the MACOs. The pain had apparently receded far enough for him to think about such things as sex. Sex with Malcolm was not on the carnal menu.

T'Pol hadn't taken Tucker's attraction to Cole well either. Reed smiled into the darkness as he remembered her obvious distraction during their first training session. The two of them had practically been having sex on the mat, true, but why would T'Pol care? He'd expected a bit more detachment and control from a Vulcan. It seemed that there really was some truth to the rumors. There was more going on between Tucker and T'Pol than simple therapy. Somehow, seeing such a reaction from the Vulcan made her less desirable to Reed. At least that was something he could thank Trip for. At the moment, neither of them were particularly attractive to him.

Then there was Archer. The captain was the most unlikely match of all. His command style was slapdash, his approach to the initial mission anything but serious, it seemed. As the first high warp expedition out of the solar system, responsible for first contacts with unknown species and facing unknown dangers, they had a responsibility to their planet as well as to the ship. Archer's actions were hard to reconcile with that. But as time went on, and they blundered their way through situations no one on Earth had ever foreseen, Reed had come to realize that Archer had a dedication and a willingness to do whatever was necessary to accomplish what they'd set out to do. He didn't do it in any way Reed could recognize as serious, but he got results and the ship and crew had gradually become a single unit with bonds as strong as any Reed had ever seen. He knew from personal experience that Archer would risk his life for any one of them. He'd done it for Reed on two occasions now. Admiration had turned to hero worship and Reed had fought to keep his growing attraction hidden. He'd succeeded. After all, he was a Reed. Discipline and duty were bred into him.

It was strange, this mission into the Expanse had sealed the death of that attraction. Archer's singlemindedness should have been all Reed had ever wanted in a commanding officer. By the book was suddenly the order of the day. But Archer had lost something in the transition. He lived, ate, and slept their objective, and that was all.

Hayes was another inexplicable assault on his feelings. Of all people, Hayes should have been the last person to affect him in this way. The man was arrogant, ambitious, and a bit dense, to be truthful. His combat skills were top notch, but he had neither the training nor the talent to do Reed's job. He was a soldier, and no more.

The recent incident with the Xindi hatchery illustrated this. Hayes had been more than willing to follow Archer's lead, even when the objective was insane. What kind of an idiot would think it was all right to sacrifice a significant portion of their antimatter supply—something they had no way of replacing out here in hostile space—to save a ship full of future enemy soldiers? Even Hayes should have noticed that something was wrong. At the very least he should have listened to the rest of the senior officers before throwing his support to Archer. For a man who supposedly didn't want Reed's job he certainly took both it, and T'Pol's when the opportunity arose.

Then there was the man's obsession with his practice sessions. Yes, of course it was important for the crew to have the best combat skills possible out here, they had no way of knowing what would be expected of them, but Hayes didn't seem to understand that there was more to this mission, and more to their jobs, than combat. No, the practice sessions seemed almost designed to give Hayes a certain standing aboard the ship, and as a means of humiliating Reed and his people. Well that hadn't worked out quite the way Hayes had planned, had it? Reed remembered the savage pleasure he'd felt as he'd fought Hayes to what would have been a standstill. He remembered standing over Hayes's stunned body out in the corridor. Yes, Hayes had risen again, but only because Reed had allowed it. After all, hadn't Hayes himself said that if an opponent was on their feet, they were fair game? He could have grabbed him just as the MACO had grabbed Mayweather in their first training session and dropped him as he'd tried to rise.

Shame flooded Reed as he realized he was hard again. They all had their weaknesses it seemed. With him, all it took was a few months with no regular sexual outlet before he looked lasciviously on anything that moved. Even a semi-intelligent MACO bastard with a nice backside and good reflexes.

Well then, he would make this into an unofficial training exercise. If he intended to continue to work in deep space, appropriate sexual opportunities would be few and far between. If he ever rose to command, the last thing he intended to do was to indulge himself with a member of his crew. The anti fraternization regs were there for good reason, regardless of what the others thought.

Reed looked up at the chronometer set above his bunk. 3:45 AM. He was awake now, far too awake to lie here for another couple of hours in a vain attempt to sleep.

He rolled to his feet and reached for his sweats. An hour or so in the gym, a hot shower and some breakfast. That was just the ticket.


End file.
